Mariana Kotzeva is the new Director General of Eurostat - the statistical office of the European Commission. Kotzeva took the place of former head of the office Walter Radermacher, who retired at the end of last year. Kotseva was chairwoman of the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute and in early 2012 became part of the Eurostat team after winning a contest for the position of Special Adviser with the rank of deputy head in the Luxembourg-based service. In 2014 she became Deputy Director General and according to an announcement on the official website of Eurostat she took office as head of the institution on January 1, 2017.